R
rhurley
Guest
First of all. We want to get along with our neighbors. We plan on living here for many years and do not want to jeopardize our feeling of home. We greatly respect the views of our neighbors and would not want to cause grief or turmoil with them. I am a pacifist and an optimist. I believe that we can work it out to everyone's best interest without conflict.
I have two problems in Tennessee.
The First: The Right-Of-Way adjacent to my property, my current driveway, and currently my only access to a City street from my house.
There are three neighbors whose properties are adjacent to the ROW. The ROW is about 150 feet long and about 50 feet wide.
Neighbor A who currently uses the ROW because his real driveway is not wide enough to be able to get two cars into and out of without having to move one in order to move the other. A's driveway is also on a slope and has a curve that makes it difficult to maneuver a vehicle out of backwards. Neighbor A seems to be more than willing to work something out.
Neighbor B who currently do not use the ROW but eventually want to add onto their house and have access to the new addition with a driveway.
My wife and I currently use a gravel driveway to get into and out of our home. We are the ones that appear to be in the middle of the ROW. The gravel driveway is about 100 or so feet long. Our mailbox is also within the ROW. Our property also goes down to another street with about 40 foot wide and maybe 300 or so foot strip of land. This strip is currently mostly wooded and there is no bridge to get across the drainage ditch. So it currently cannot be used for a vehicle to access a city street with out development. If we were to use this strip to access a city street our driveway would be approximately 600 feet long. By using the ROW, our driveway is much less at about 100 feet long.
It is assumed that the ROW was "proposed" as a connector road between two streets years before and to be a continuation of the current road that I live on. This is based on copies of drawings showing this.
It is assumed that a very large piece of property was given to or sold to a hospital.
It is assumed that the hospital once wanted to develop a subdivision on the property.
It is assumed that there was a contraversary regarding the hospital developing a subdivision.
It is assumed that the hospital cut the large piece of property up.
It is assumed that the hospital had all of the subdivided lots auctioned off.
It is assumed that the hospital once owned the property that I now own. The builder purchased 1.44 acres at an auction I believe in 1998 from the hospital.
It is assumed that at one time there was a possibility of a "proposed" road to connect the two streets.
It is assumed the hospital property was considered the hospital "subdivision".
It is assumed that the neighbors A and B are not in my subdivision but in the other subdivision.
It is assumed that when the land was auctioned off the possibility of a "proposed" road to connect the two streets was also abandoned. This also became my property, except for the ROW.
We purchased the newly built home in February 1999.
The builder went to the City Planning Commission and asked for access to the ROW to put a driveway on to connect our home to the street. This is about 100 feet instead of making a driveway about 600 feet down the hill to the other street. Permission was granted to the builder in January 1999 to construct a driveway to the street across the ROW.
In 1999 I spoke to someone at the City Planning Commission and asked about the City abandoning the ROW and giving it to the three property owners. I was told that if all adjacent property owners could decide on their share, the city would abandon the property, since they did not want the property any longer and it is a liability to the city.
In 1999, the three property owners got together to discuss the ROW and cutting it up into pieces.
Neighbors A would work to come to a compromise.
Neighbors B wanted me to build the driveway and them connect to my driveway. They did not want to be rushed. They also approached Neighbors A and made innuendos about me not being part of their subdivision and they could have me gated off from begin able to access the street since I was not part of the subdivision. Forcing me to put in a very long and probably expensive driveway down to the other street.
Note about the Neighbors B:
Before we moved in I personally made it a point to meet them. I thought that this would be a good gesture to show who would be living beside them.
We had a very friendly neighbor-to-neighbor relationship. I personally helped them out in many many situations.
They have never paid me for any of the work that I have done for them. I never wanted to be paid. I did all the things I did because I really liked them and would never charge a friend to help.
We have been good to them and they have been neighborly to us.
We became very personal, just like real friends. Neighbors B confided in me just like we had been friends for years.
I would like to see the ROW vacated so that all of us have a share of the ROW and can increase our property. All I want is a paved driveway to the street. That I own not share with my neighbors. Neighbors A are willing to work with us, but Neighbors B do not appear to be willing. Neighbors B are non-committal in any conversation we have regarding the ROW. Neighbors B does not seem understand why having a private drive is beneficial to us all. He seems to want to share a driveway with us, but may want us to pay for the driveway and him to have access to it without any cost or upkeep on his part.
We have been driving on the gravel for over a year and a half. Neighbors B said that they did not want to rush this. So we have been very patient with them to come to some agreement.
Neighbors B has even mentioned to Neighbors A that the subdivision has sued and had a gate put up at the apartments to prevent them from accessing the subdivision streets. I thought that that was a comment that they may do the same thing to us since we are not in their subdivision.
While meeting with them, Neighbor B stated the same thing about another road that was blocked to keep people off of their subdivision streets many years ago, but the gate was removed.
Neighbor B has also commented to Neighbor A about my having grass seed put in on the ROW and my cutting the grass as though it was mine. I grassed the ROW to make it look good. I keep it cut to make it look good. I know that the ROW, nor the gravel, nor the grass belongs to me. I just did not want that area to take away from my home.
I have not landscaped my property yet because I am still not sure what will be done with the driveway and I did not want to spend a bunch of money and have it dug up if this cannot be settled. Once all of this has been settled, I will have a landscape architect come in and fix up the yard and areas appropriately. It will look great after this is all put to bed.
The Second Problem: My Gravel Driveway is encroaching on the corner of Neighbor B's property.
When we purchased the property from the builder there was a temporary power pole erected. The builder said that the pole was the property corner. This was a mistake on the builder's part. The property was surveyed and when they did all of the grading to put in the building and driveway the pole appeared to be the marker.
Recently, I had looked at the property and it appeared that maybe the marker could be in the edge of the gravel closest to their property. I figured that we would get all of this straightened out once we got the ROW settled. I was wrong.
A week ago, the Neighbor B had their property surveyed and we found that the pin is actually on the other side of the gravel.
This shows that we have a triangle of about 10'x10'x20' that we have been driving on and has gravel on it. Also there could be a couple inches of concrete that may also be on their property.
I called Neighbor B and stated that I had a
I have two problems in Tennessee.
The First: The Right-Of-Way adjacent to my property, my current driveway, and currently my only access to a City street from my house.
There are three neighbors whose properties are adjacent to the ROW. The ROW is about 150 feet long and about 50 feet wide.
Neighbor A who currently uses the ROW because his real driveway is not wide enough to be able to get two cars into and out of without having to move one in order to move the other. A's driveway is also on a slope and has a curve that makes it difficult to maneuver a vehicle out of backwards. Neighbor A seems to be more than willing to work something out.
Neighbor B who currently do not use the ROW but eventually want to add onto their house and have access to the new addition with a driveway.
My wife and I currently use a gravel driveway to get into and out of our home. We are the ones that appear to be in the middle of the ROW. The gravel driveway is about 100 or so feet long. Our mailbox is also within the ROW. Our property also goes down to another street with about 40 foot wide and maybe 300 or so foot strip of land. This strip is currently mostly wooded and there is no bridge to get across the drainage ditch. So it currently cannot be used for a vehicle to access a city street with out development. If we were to use this strip to access a city street our driveway would be approximately 600 feet long. By using the ROW, our driveway is much less at about 100 feet long.
It is assumed that the ROW was "proposed" as a connector road between two streets years before and to be a continuation of the current road that I live on. This is based on copies of drawings showing this.
It is assumed that a very large piece of property was given to or sold to a hospital.
It is assumed that the hospital once wanted to develop a subdivision on the property.
It is assumed that there was a contraversary regarding the hospital developing a subdivision.
It is assumed that the hospital cut the large piece of property up.
It is assumed that the hospital had all of the subdivided lots auctioned off.
It is assumed that the hospital once owned the property that I now own. The builder purchased 1.44 acres at an auction I believe in 1998 from the hospital.
It is assumed that at one time there was a possibility of a "proposed" road to connect the two streets.
It is assumed the hospital property was considered the hospital "subdivision".
It is assumed that the neighbors A and B are not in my subdivision but in the other subdivision.
It is assumed that when the land was auctioned off the possibility of a "proposed" road to connect the two streets was also abandoned. This also became my property, except for the ROW.
We purchased the newly built home in February 1999.
The builder went to the City Planning Commission and asked for access to the ROW to put a driveway on to connect our home to the street. This is about 100 feet instead of making a driveway about 600 feet down the hill to the other street. Permission was granted to the builder in January 1999 to construct a driveway to the street across the ROW.
In 1999 I spoke to someone at the City Planning Commission and asked about the City abandoning the ROW and giving it to the three property owners. I was told that if all adjacent property owners could decide on their share, the city would abandon the property, since they did not want the property any longer and it is a liability to the city.
In 1999, the three property owners got together to discuss the ROW and cutting it up into pieces.
Neighbors A would work to come to a compromise.
Neighbors B wanted me to build the driveway and them connect to my driveway. They did not want to be rushed. They also approached Neighbors A and made innuendos about me not being part of their subdivision and they could have me gated off from begin able to access the street since I was not part of the subdivision. Forcing me to put in a very long and probably expensive driveway down to the other street.
Note about the Neighbors B:
Before we moved in I personally made it a point to meet them. I thought that this would be a good gesture to show who would be living beside them.
We had a very friendly neighbor-to-neighbor relationship. I personally helped them out in many many situations.
They have never paid me for any of the work that I have done for them. I never wanted to be paid. I did all the things I did because I really liked them and would never charge a friend to help.
We have been good to them and they have been neighborly to us.
We became very personal, just like real friends. Neighbors B confided in me just like we had been friends for years.
I would like to see the ROW vacated so that all of us have a share of the ROW and can increase our property. All I want is a paved driveway to the street. That I own not share with my neighbors. Neighbors A are willing to work with us, but Neighbors B do not appear to be willing. Neighbors B are non-committal in any conversation we have regarding the ROW. Neighbors B does not seem understand why having a private drive is beneficial to us all. He seems to want to share a driveway with us, but may want us to pay for the driveway and him to have access to it without any cost or upkeep on his part.
We have been driving on the gravel for over a year and a half. Neighbors B said that they did not want to rush this. So we have been very patient with them to come to some agreement.
Neighbors B has even mentioned to Neighbors A that the subdivision has sued and had a gate put up at the apartments to prevent them from accessing the subdivision streets. I thought that that was a comment that they may do the same thing to us since we are not in their subdivision.
While meeting with them, Neighbor B stated the same thing about another road that was blocked to keep people off of their subdivision streets many years ago, but the gate was removed.
Neighbor B has also commented to Neighbor A about my having grass seed put in on the ROW and my cutting the grass as though it was mine. I grassed the ROW to make it look good. I keep it cut to make it look good. I know that the ROW, nor the gravel, nor the grass belongs to me. I just did not want that area to take away from my home.
I have not landscaped my property yet because I am still not sure what will be done with the driveway and I did not want to spend a bunch of money and have it dug up if this cannot be settled. Once all of this has been settled, I will have a landscape architect come in and fix up the yard and areas appropriately. It will look great after this is all put to bed.
The Second Problem: My Gravel Driveway is encroaching on the corner of Neighbor B's property.
When we purchased the property from the builder there was a temporary power pole erected. The builder said that the pole was the property corner. This was a mistake on the builder's part. The property was surveyed and when they did all of the grading to put in the building and driveway the pole appeared to be the marker.
Recently, I had looked at the property and it appeared that maybe the marker could be in the edge of the gravel closest to their property. I figured that we would get all of this straightened out once we got the ROW settled. I was wrong.
A week ago, the Neighbor B had their property surveyed and we found that the pin is actually on the other side of the gravel.
This shows that we have a triangle of about 10'x10'x20' that we have been driving on and has gravel on it. Also there could be a couple inches of concrete that may also be on their property.
I called Neighbor B and stated that I had a